May 2008 General Election
The May 2008 General Election took place on 08/05/2008 following the dissolution of parliament at the end of the 1st Ten Thousand Fists Government. Voters from across Ostentia took part in the electoral process, voting for both a prime ministerial candidate and a parliamentary candidate. Due to delays in the voting process, the final results were not announced until 10/05/2008. The election saw the Boo Party gain a plurality in the House of Commons and Inevitable elected as Prime Minister. This led to the creation of the 4th Inevitable Government. Election Results Parliamentary Election Results Parties which failed to win seats in both this election and the previous election are not shown. Seat difference is based on the results of the previous election and does not take defections and by-elections into account. Prime Ministerial Election Results Analysis The May 2008 General Election marked a significant shift in Ostentian politics. Most notably, the governing LMIATPEFO Party lost every seat in the House of Commons, exiting politics just as quickly as it arrived. However, what was most surprising about this election was that it didn't simply revert to the previous two party system, with the Boo Party and the F&V=P Party accounting for the vast majority of votes cast. Instead, four paties contested the Prime Ministerial Election, with the traditional parties having to compete with the newly formed IPNH Party and Democratic Labour Party. Before the election, it was widely expected that the Boo Party would win a majority in the House of Commons, if not a particularly large one. However, on election night, the left wing vote was split between the Boo Party and the Democratic Labour Party, to the effect that the Boo Party lead over their rivals fell considerably as they "safe seats" to the DLP. The Boo Party also suffered from gains made by regional political parties such as the NI Separatist Party and the Woist Voice Party, which saw them lose their only seat in the Northern Isles and half their seats in Fondrop. The F&V=P Party also struggled however, as they lost votes to the DLP on the left and the IPNH Party on the right. This squeeze on the F&V=P vote meant that, while it was clear that the Boo Party was going to fail to get a majority, the F&V=P Party was still going to get less seats than the Boo Party. In regional politics there was also some interesting shifts. In the Northern Isles, the NI Separatist Party gained all but two seats, while the Woist Voice Party took several seats off of the Boo Party in Fondrop, a sign of the continuing suspicion of the Boo Party's stance towards Woism. Nashun also witnessed a key change as its last regional party, the Nashun Liberal Party, lost their final two seats. In Oredia, the Oredian Royalist Party vote completely collapsed, as seat after seat went to their regional rivals, the Oredian Democrat Party and the Oredian Separatist Party, and even to national parties, an usual event in Oredia. Finally, in Falahn, the Boo Party was able to recover the seats it lost to the Falahn Royalist Party at the previous election. In the end, the Boo Party was the clear winner and subsequently invited to form a government. However, it only had a plurality of 28 and it had a majority of -83, the lowest in Ostentian history. The Boo Party wasn't in too weak a position though, as the nature of the hung parliament meant that opposition duties were divided between three parties, significantly reducing the threat posed to the government. Category:General Elections of Ostentia